The iconic New York Marathon is what running dreams are made of. A million people line the course and millions more watch on television and this year the star-studded field will include an entrant raising money for St Lucy’s School for children with disabilities.

Former Knox boy, John Bartlett, hadn’t run seriously since his school days when he picked up his sneakers around a year ago. Now he covers a gruelling 120 kilometres a week to train for New York because of his love for his best friend and fellow-former Knox boy, James Hunter and his son Lachlan who was born with Cerebral Palsy and Dyspraxia.

“James is like a brother to me”, says John. “It is very hard when you see the anxiety and anguish he and Michelle have gone through, trying to work out if Lachlan can live a normal life and how to make him as happy as he can be”.

Lachlan attends St Lucy’s in Wahroonga, which operates with a $600,000 deficit; John will donate all money raised to the school.

“If more kids can be helped and the funding improved for children at St Lucy’s with high needs, then that will be a good outcome”, he says.

John came 11th in a field of 8,000 in a Sydney half-marathon in September and hopes to come in the top 100 out of around 60,000 entrants in New York. The course is the equivalent of running from the city to Wahroonga and back again and John’s training is no small feat, considering he has two very small children of his own and a demanding career as a stock broker. “My wife calls it my mid-life crisis!” he says.